Petition for safer crosswalk in Dover gets attention

Wednesday

Dec 26, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By Michelle Kingstonmkingston@fosters.com

DOVER — Jaclyn Cote sustained multiple injuries after being struck by a car while using the crosswalk at Chestnut and Third Streets, and is now raising awareness for traffic improvements through a petition.

Around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 22, Cote was walking to have coffee with a friend at Café on the Corner.

“We looked both ways, we waited for one car to go by us before we crossed. She was on my left, so I was looking at her, talking to her and, I don’t remember much, I just remember seeing a big flash out of the corner of my eye,” Cote said. “I remember hearing the screeching of the tires and then when I opened my eyes up again I was on the ground.”

Cote spent a few days in the hospital and over a week in a rehab center. She broke her tibia, fibula and fractured her pelvis and sacrum.

“I’m all right now,” she said. “I’m still in physical therapy and some thing’s are still a challenge. I try to have a positive attitude about it. I’ve come a long way from when it happened.”

A short time after her accident, Cote heard about one of the 55 other traffic incidents that have occurred in the same area over the past 10 years.

“I heard about this other woman who had been killed at that same crosswalk,” she said. “I know her situation was a little different, but I was just surprised that hadn’t been addressed.”

Cote took it upon herself to make people aware of the incidents that have occurred there, saying she was so fortunate nothing else had happened to her. She has started a petition with a goal of over 200 signatures.

“I just want to increase awareness,” she said, adding she has received almost 100 signatures online and another 100 on paper.

Her goal is to see a pedestrian push button operated light at the intersection.

“I understand that it might not be possible. It costs a lot of money,” she said. “But there are definitely a lot of options — curb extensions, raised pedestrian islands.”

Earlier this month, the Community Services Department announced they will install lighted midblock crosswalk signs as soon as they are delivered to the city. These will help drivers notice crosswalks.

“The intersection is kind of tricky because the way that the driver was coming, was up from Goodwill and the liquor store and there are three or four seconds of reaction time when your eyes are on the road, but there is a lot to distract a driver there,” Cote said. “There is the entrance and exit from Third Street and the railroad tracks.”

She also states there is not much lighting on the road and a hill drivers must come over.

“I know people cut through that street instead of using Central and they just go way too fast on that road,” Cote said, adding she also believes the city should lower the speed limit.

A downtown traffic improvement project identified in the Capital Improvements Program will also continue to improve safety of crosswalks in Dover.

“I understand why they want to keep the crosswalk because of the residents going to and from church there, but if they are going to keep this crosswalk, they need to make changes to keep it safer for everybody,” Cote said.